The Bolivian Experiment: Structural Adjustment and Poverty Alleviation Book

The Bolivian experiment which began on August 29th, 1985 with the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) was the first major neo-liberal reform programme in Latin America to be implemented successfully by an elected government during the 1980s. The reforms aimed at putting an end to economic stagnation and chaos, widespread and deep-rooted poverty, and political instability. To do so, the NEP established an entirely new framework of economic and social rules and a new relationship between the central government and the market. This volume of studies analyses the benefits and shortcomings of the major elements of these radical, comprehensive and innovative reform programmes, and the economic and social transition of Bolivia during the era of the neo-liberal experiment. The authors are researchers associated with Dutch universities, research institutions and several multilateral organizations including the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank. The publication of this book is sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Eleven essays, plus editor's introduction and conclusion analyze the benefits and shortcomings of the neoliberal reform program, New Economic Policy (NEP). Authors examine economic and social transition caused by NEP's framework of rules, and the changed relationship between central government and market. Empirical essays discuss specific dimensions of the NEP and the transition process since 1985"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.